


Those Poor Suckers

by Iambic



Category: DCU
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-17
Updated: 2009-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-03 05:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iambic/pseuds/Iambic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So who had the stroke of genius to make Booster Gold a father, anyway? Spoiler for the current run of Booster Gold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Poor Suckers

"You know, you're gonna have to modify the suits," Booster says at the end of a long and only somewhat awkward silence. It isn't exactly what Rip was expecting to hear so soon after the conclusion of a less-than-stellar mission into time, but then again, his father's never been quite as predictable as might be predicted. Actually -- Booster Gold hasn't been anything close to what Rip expected. He heard the stories from the Justice League, and the other side of it from Aunt Shel, of course, and that left him with a vague image of a serious hero with an unbelievably cheesy alter-ego. That Michael Carter, the greatest hero never known, would be so tragic -- that never occurred to him.

He'd expected to look up to his father. Never to have to look out for him.

"What's wrong with it now?" asks Rip. He leans back against the nearest wall, looking over the father he never knew, and readies his snappy repartee.

He's doomed not to use it this time, though. Booster looks down at the star on his chest and laughs. "Otherwise the line's gonna die with me. Seriously, do you see me with kids?" He shakes his head. "I married once. Not making that mistake again."

Rip very carefully doesn't freeze, but his brain skids to a halt. Of all the things he didn't expect, he expected this the least. He'll have to play this one carefully, because this is something Booster can't know about. He really can't know about that kid he'll have sometime in his future, the one he'll never get to raise. Shel always said that never being able to be there for his kid -- for Rip -- was Booster Gold's last and greatest regret. Somewhere along the line, something's gonna change Booster's mind.

But Booster Gold is grinning now, not even troubled like he might've been just a few moments earlier. "I feel bad for all the poor suckers out there who thought it'd be a good idea to have kids. Something to tie you down like that? No thanks!"

Rip thinks of something then, and it's something he doesn't really want to think about, but makes too much sense not to at least consider. Because Rip never had a father around, and there are two possible explanations for that. Rip had always assumed that it was what his aunt told him -- that his father had died in battle, as all superheroes eventually do. But the man Rip was raised to admire isn't the man he's working with now, and probably never was.

"You never know," is all Rip says. He probably never will.


End file.
